UK golfers ‘pumped’ as late teammate’s hometown course to be named ‘The Cullan’

As a youngster, Cullan Brown spent countless hours on his hometown golf course at Mineral Mound State Park, playing with his father, his uncle, his sister, hitting the ball farther than anyone else, enjoying it all more than anyone.

Now in a ceremony Monday at 2:30 p.m EDT. at the Eddyville Park, the course will be officially named after the late University of Kentucky golfer, who lost his battle to cancer at the age of 20 on Aug. 4, 2020.

“I think he would probably be embarrassed, knowing Cullan,” UK golf coach Brian Craig said Tuesday. “He would probably be like, ‘Oh, come on you all.’ He always downplayed everything. He had a great sense of humility. If he played great or he played bad, he was the same guy. I think he’d be embarrassed by it, but what an honor.”

What an honor indeed for the talented golfer who was named UK’s “Male Freshman Athlete of the Year” in 2019 but whose legacy, thanks to his personality, went far beyond 18 holes.

“He was one of those guys where he was absolutely the most unique person I knew,” said Jay Kirchdorfer, a sophomore from Louisville who first met his future UK teammate when he was 14.

“It was at the Cardinal Club in Louisville. He had a full beard and he hit it 80 yards past me. He actually won the tournament. He called about an hour later and said, ‘I thought I made a five on this hole, but I made a six. He disqualified himself. He still would have won. He won by four. And he disqualified himself.

“It was such a mature thing to do. That’s really my first memory of him.”

Jacob Cook, a grad student on the UK golf team, said he first met Brown at the Boys’ High School State Tournament in Bowling Green. Brown was a seventh-grader. “I remember he kept talking about how he couldn’t wait to go to the Montana Grill afterward,” Cook said, laughing.

That was Brown. He loved to talk golf, and hunting, and fishing. And reading. Brown read all the time, said Craig, devouring books during UK’s road trips. “And if he found something he was interested in, he didn’t read one book. He’d read them all,” said the coach.

On the course, Brown was a great ball-striker who had a natural feel for the game. If he was putting well, look out. “When he putted well, he did stuff like the 64 he shot at Vanderbilt his freshman year,” Craig said. But there was more to Brown’s game.

“He was very naturally talented, but I think the biggest thing was his personality and the mindset he took to golf,” Cook said. “Cullan was able to play so free and so relaxed, it put him above a lot of people.”

“I’d say from like a mental side, which was his biggest strength, he just really grasped how little it actually mattered,” Kirchdorfer said. “He knew how great his life was outside of golf. It didn’t matter if he shot 66 or 86, he was still going to enjoy the people he was around.”

“He literally knew everybody, but he didn’t try to know everybody,” said Craig of Brown’s “The Mayor” nickname. “His personality, people gravitated to him, including myself.”

Now, one year later, is it hard to believe Brown is gone?

“It’s kind of amazing how long it took to hit us,” Kirchdorfer said.

“But when it hit us, it hit us hard.”

Still, as Cook said, the UK team is “pumped” for Monday, for seeing Brown’s home course be officially named “The Cullan.”

“I think he would love it,” Kirchdorfer said. “I know it’s a special place for him and his whole family. I think he’d be over the moon about it.”

“I think he’d be so excited,” Cook said. “It’d be hard to believe for him. The humble guy he is, he’d probably think he didn’t deserve it. But in reality, there isn’t anyone who would deserve it more, the legacy Cullan has left behind.”

Said Craig, “It’s going to be a very emotional time on Monday.”

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